Day 1: Auckland to Nelson to Pohara

I don't blog very often, so I am guessing that it is no surprise that I am just getting around to blogging about our Christmas/Anniversary/Birthday/New Years holiday. Here it goes though, the highlights of our trip...

Our holiday started with a flight to Nelson. After weeks of preparation, we were finally on our way. Several weeks later, there are only a few things that I remember about the flight. One, our packs were ridiculously heavy with our required 9 days worth of food in them. (Also, trying to come up with 9 days worth of non-refrigerated food is quite a challenge!) Two, Wellington was ridiculously cold. We had a stopover in Wellington and only had to walk outside to board our second flight, but even the flight attendants made note that I looked cold. Three, Nelson was beautiful. Warm, sunny, crystal clear water. Bring on the holiday.

We had a few hours to kill in Nelson before catching a bus to Golden Bay. We started with our chores, which included the grocery store (my back could not believe that we needed even more food) and the used book store. And then, we opted to spend most of our time at a shady table at the pub with the obvious excuse that I could not possibly carry my heavy backpack around all day . Perhaps I really just like beer though. Highlights of the day included me slicing the corner of my finger off with my razor (note to self, do not reach into your pack too quickly), almost missing our bus because unbeknownst to us, there are actually 2 bus stops in downtown Nelson and we were at the wrong one, and a beautiful bus ride out to Golden Bay where I managed to sunburn myself on the first day!